The 245 recipes in the cookbook needed to be tested, so we called upon friends, relatives, and co-workers, who in turn also volunteered their friends, relatives, and co-workers. The convenience of the internet allowed us to email the recipes across the United States to 70 people willing to take the time and to absorb the cost of testing the recipes.

The recipe testers are not all seasoned cooks or homemakers, but men and women who are doctors, lawyers, nurses, electricians, teachers, students, IT managers, CFOs, politicians, hair stylists . . . and the list goes on. Some of the recipes required resourcefulness and bravery on the part of the tester, such as finding a suitable substitute for a cheese unavailable in the tester's region and finding and killing a rattlesnake. Several of the testers were given recipes to test that included foods that they don't eat, but in a most cases the testers enjoyed the finished dish and have added the recipe to their collection.

We are truly thankful for the testers, for without their help, we would still be testing the recipes.